Independent : Police beatings condemned

Police beatings condemned

October 1, 2007

Journalists staged rallies across Pakistan yesterday, marking a "black day" to condemn police beatings during opposition protests against President General Pervez Musharraf's pursuit of another five-year term.

The protests came a day after Musharraf picked up a key legal victory when the Election Commission approved his candidacy for the October 6 vote as lawyers and opposition activists protested outside. Police wielded batons and fired tear gas to disperse them before turning on journalists covering the melee in Islamabad.

Sixty-four people were injured, including 13 police officials, 31 journalists, two opposition lawmakers and several passers-by, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported today, citing an official statement.

Wearing black armbands and carrying black flags, journalists were joined by opposition activists, legislators and lawyers in a rally today in the capital. About 1,000 people chanted "We want freedom" and "No to rules of oppression."

Rallies also were held in Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore. In Multan, more than 400 protesters burned tyres near the city's press club.

The Supreme Court's top judge said today he will hold a hearing on the violence. He summoned police, Interior Ministry and district officials to appear in court tomorrow for an explanation, according to a court statement that quoted a senior court official as calling the police response "highly excessive".

Police "outnumbered the agitating lawyers ... and missed no opportunity to thrash" them, it said.

Journalists decried the beatings as "shameful tactics" by a government that has claimed to promote press freedoms, said Mushtaq Minhas, president of the press club in Islamabad.

"What happened yesterday was shameful and the darkest day in Pakistan's history," Minhas said, accusing the government of increasing intolerance of independent media.

"The dictators want to trample every institution under their military boots," Minhas told the Islamabad rally.

Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim and a lawmaker from a pro-Musharraf party were also injured in yesterday's melee, after receiving a few punches from protesters before being rescued by aides and police.

Minhas said police registered cases under anti-terrorism laws implicating several journalists in the attack on Azim. "We condemn this dictatorial tactic," he said.

Despite dwindling popularity and increasingly bitter opposition, Musharraf, a close US ally, also seems set to win the election. The ruling coalition says it has the numbers it needs, and even the general's main challenger, retired Judge Wajihuddin Ahmed, has admitted he does not have much of a chance.